The Padres may have found a bit of lightning in a bottle. Now the trick is to keep Mat Latos from getting singed by his own electricity.

To say the least, the 6-foot-6 right-hander has put a charge in a Padres club that definitely needed some sort of boost last month, coming up from Double-A and becoming the first San Diego rookie to win four of his first five major league starts. He also brought a feisty, outgoing, confident personality that belies his raw-rookie status, even to the point where Latos didn't try to hide his disenchantment with the umpiring in Saturday's win over the New York Mets.

Coming off the field after an inning, Latos glared back at plate ump Lance Barksdale, who appeared to be staring back. At one point, too, veteran second baseman David Eckstein was compelled to visit the mound and calm Latos down after a questionable ball-three call and resultant walk that ticked off the pitcher.

“Everybody has emotions,” Latos said. “Sometimes, I wear my emotions on my sleeve, which can be a good thing and can be a bad thing. Sometimes I hold my emotions in, and for me, that's a bad thing. When I show some type of emotion, it lets the guys know that I'm there for them, ready to fight for them and not back down.

“The important part is to know the line and to not cross that line. It really wasn't a smart thing for me to show that emotion after the walk. But something had to come out.”

As he spoke Sunday, a dejected Latos sat alone at his locker, his right hand wrapped to above the wrist while an electric pulse coursed into it. The wrist was taped as he watched the game from the dugout, and while he said it improved over the course of the afternoon, he continued to protect it and shake hands with his left.

“I have no idea what's wrong with it,” Latos said. “I didn't feel anything wrong last night. I just felt it when I woke up this morning. Hey, it happens.”

According to trainer Todd Hutcheson, the sore wrist is just that, a sore wrist that's common to players the day after games. While the Padres have been planning to curtail Latos' pitching in a few weeks – a precaution for a prized young pitcher not accustomed to throwing so many innings – manager Bud Black said Latos is still on schedule to start Friday's game at St. Louis.

Black had his own problems with at least one Barksdale call, getting the thumb from the plate ump after arguing a clearly missed call that cost the Padres a run, but it's one thing for a skipper to express his displeasure and quite another for a pitcher who began this season in Single-A ball. At the same time, Latos' intensity and fieriness are attributes the Padres like and need.